Modify one-use Freon tank to be refillable.

Just a FYI video. Might need to make a tire air-up tank or something.

[@freytube1]

recycle everything.. Loved it ,thanks , I just emptied my refeer 134A into one using your video .. Now trying find someone take the 134 off my hand .

[@YQLF]

*Warning: One problem with this modification is that if the valve is opened too much under high pressure, it can blow out due to the lack of a limitation on the valve's opening.*

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

This is very true. One turn is plenty to open the tank fully. Even though I am the only one using these, I still write "open one turn only" on these... as if the cut down valve neck isn't enough warning LOL!

[@billsmith1770]

they used to sell a kit to convert them to air tanks . i still have one or two that i converted . always a little nervous about filling them , i eventually made one from a propane grill tank . even with this one , i connect via air chuck , slightly open valve , and "hide" till it's filled .

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Hi Bill. I remember those! It was a hose with a tire chuck on one end, and a gauge and fitting on the other to attach to the tank. The tanks which were sold with R22 are rated to a pretty high pressure. Unless the tank is rusted out like this one in this video, it should be plenty safe to 100 PSI or so; considering the R22 at its rated storage temperature would be nearly 300 PSI.

[@billsmith1770]

@@davida1hiwaaynet thanks .

[@SeanBZA]

Yes, though I have had a few of those tanks with no check valve in them, or it was jammed and ineffective, so used them to make recovery tanks from. Also took a few and removed the valve completely, replacing with a valve to a flare, so that I could put a pipe on and use it. Pumped down to a vacuum, and then filled with R152A to make a easy to use flushing tank, and then simply pressurised with R22, to dispense the liquid as needed, to flush out gunk from cooked compressors. Another, with a quick connect air fitting, makes it easy to have a little bit of compressed air to blow things out like a coil, no need to move a compressor around.

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Hi Sean. They are useful! The very early ones didn't have a check valve at all. There were some incidents where somebody opened up the high side of a system into the tank and blew the tank. That's the reason these check valve were included. For years my uncle and grandfather had old non-check-valve R12 tanks around from their dairy milk tank cooler. We always had several tire air-up tanks around made from old R12 tanks. Those were the good old days, in so many ways......

[@theadjuster151]

​@@davida1hiwaaynetyes I remember those in the 80s with the green handles! Wish I had about 100 of them now! New subscriber here brother! 💯

[@cool386vintagetechnology6]

I have one of these, so it's useful to know how easy it is to re-use. I've sometimes thought about soldering a Schrader valve into the top, but this is a much better idea. Thanks!

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Thanks! I like the idea of keeping the original valve functionality as much as possible. If you are using it for air and want to have a lot of volume flow, for blowing dust etc. the factory valve has a larger flow path than a Schrader.

[@RichChh]

@@davida1hiwaaynet Thank you David!

[@RickBaconsAdventures]

I've brazed a service port onto the top of a couple of them for bootleg car A/C recovery. This is a neat alternative. I finally bought a couple real recovery tanks that have the nice dual valves with the dip tube on one for liquid. I'm spoiled now. This would be a good way to recover unknown or contaminated refrigerant that you didn't want in a nice recovery tank too.

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Completely agree there! Some of the antiques I work on use expensive refrigerants like R1234ZE where I don't want to lose it; but don't use it enough to justify dedicating an actual recovery tank for it. These are a good alternative. Those old systems use low pressure refrigerants well below the safety margin of these tanks; assuming they are not rusted.

[@ASMR_relax24]

​@@davida1hiwaaynet I'm planning on using them to to store air, so I can blow dust off. I was hoping to use a shrader valve so I can refill it using the free air available at fuel stations as I don't have a compressor. Pls advice on if this idea would be practical and if I'd have to consider any other safety factors. Also how do we figure out if the tank is rusting from the inside, since you mentioned it?

[@Tradesmen]

Awesome video! I want to cut the head off completely & weld these 6 empty tanks together as portable air tanks, but this makes tying them all together with some had adaptors sounds like a better idea. I'm still going to tack them 2deep-3 high and put en on rollers. Makes this design easy to add more tanks for more air storage in the future. 👍

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Wow, that will be cool looking, having a "rack system" of tanks. Just be mindful of water collection and internal corrosion when engineering this design. That's the weak point of these tanks, unfortunately. They were designed for refrigerant gases which don't cause any rust.

[@Tradesmen]

@@davida1hiwaaynet Good looking out. Moisture relief won't be a problem. I'll add purge valves to em and do a Nitrogen purge every week or so. 👍

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Yep, always got to be watchful around pressure.

[@bayloruniversity5812]

I couldn’t tell you how many of these tanks that I had to throw away, wish I would’ve kept most of them

[@MrUbiquitousTech]

Great tip David, thanks for sharing!

[@111000100101001]

Perfect, thank you for sharing that useful demonstration. I have a new, albeit empty, tank that could be used again:)

[@sargetester99]

I would love to see you make a video about the 2nd kind of check valve that you spoke of.

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

I will do one, next opportunity I have. This was the only tank I had here not already modded. I think (but I could be wrong) the newer tanks are likely to have the separate, removable check valve part; while the older ones are made as the one in this video.

[@thisisyourcaptainspeaking2259]

Thanks David, I've been wondering how exactly those valves are constructed.

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

You're welcome. Now you know!

[@thabomosupi3312]

Excellent Video and great presentation👏

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Thanks. I appreciate it!

[@madmanmapper]

Hey, thanks! I've been meaning to figure one of these out for a while now. Ima go make me an R152A canister now.

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Glad you found it helpful! I have done that. My recovery tank for R152A needed a new valve bonnet, so I recovered all that into a re-used tank I had modified.

[@madmanmapper]

Thought I'd get back to you. I opened up a newer R134a tank to do this mod... only to find that it had NO one-way valve. So the advertised 'non refillable' was a lie. The turn-y bit was simply longer and had the sealing surface as part of it.

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

That's interesting! I expect those tanks are built by the cheapest bidder, as with many things. Another possibility is that the tank and refrigerant within were counterfeit. Believe it or not, that is a thing.

[@ronaldeisel5927]

Great idea David!

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Thanks!

[@fordmuscleluis9710]

Good video on refilling the Freon tank I enjoyed the video

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Thank you!

[@fordmuscleluis9710]

@@davida1hiwaaynet anytime

[@catthecommentbothunter6890]

you can also use it as a boiler for a diy steam engine or steam turbine

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

That is an interesting concept. Maybe once or twice. M worry is that these are vulnerable to corrosion internally and not engineered for heat. So your mileage may vary LOL.

[@2bnax]

THANKS!!

[@8307c4]

Thank you for this.

[@ASMR_relax24]

Will superglue actually be enough though? Will it stay glued on for long enough?

[@compu85]

Don't these tanks have a pressure relief in them so if the tank got overfilled it wouldn't rupture, anyway? That's a nice simple mod! I assume it's too tight to get a tubing cutter on the valve? I was going to comment about how that tank was looking rather sad :)

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

They do have a rupture disc on them which will blow out if they are overpressurized. And yeah this one looks terribly sad! Not gonna use it; but wanted to share the modification process after some private discussions lead to it being discussed. I ruined the first one I tried with a tubing cutter! The cutter crimps the sleeve inward and then the threads on the plastic plug are ruined when they come past it.

[@snugglebunnyhaven7258]

I hate those check valves. I didn't know they did that as I have used those tanks in the past to re store freon into many times. I built myself a home made reclaimer one time and connected to one of these. I had to running for awhile and the needle on the manifold pegged suddenly after running for a few minutes. It ended in disaster venting freon into the room from the refrigerant that was being stored unknown to me in my reclaimers condenser only and not flowing into the tank as it was blocked from the checkvalve. Very dangerous to check valve them tanks for someone that might think they are clear flow like they used to be.

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Completely agree! That is frustrating about losing a bunch of Freon that way. Some is always trapped in the condenser of the recovery machine, but not as much as you experienced. Some recovery machines have a manual valve you can close, at the outlet. This allows you to retain whatever refrigerant is trapped in the condenser while the recovery tank is disconnected. I think the concept of putting a check valve in these tanks appeared about the time when recovery machines started to become more common. There is a minor safety concern with recovering into a tank with thin walls and no level sensor; especially if the tank is old. But; I think greed played a role as well, in making it so that people had to buy more expensive recovery tanks as opposed to re-using these.

[@slicktmi]

Throw the tank into a bucket with ice and water and it will pull the last of the refrigerant out kinda alot extra to do but if that refrigerant is expensive enough 3$for ice might be worth it lol.

[@oalpturk54]

Thank you for information.I glued the piece and it works.I plan to storage some r22 in it.is 15 Bar safe for it? what are you think?

[@ASMR_relax24]

You said it was scrap iron right? Why so? Isn't that just surface rust? And how do we deem a tank unsafe for use? I'm trying to repurpose and empty tank to use as pressure vessel that can possibly hold upto 10 or 15 bar of pressure. Thanks in advance

[@bayloruniversity5812]

Awesome video, I have been searching for a video just like this to show me how to do this exact thing and this is the very first one that I’ve ever found to show so, thank you so much for this information. By the way do you have another video of the other check valve you mentioned to show how to do that one? Thanks

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

As of now, this is the only check valve video I have. If I have a chance to do another style, I will make another video!

[@RCM442]

Hey cool! Thanks for the tip. My scrap yard doesn't even take these whole anymore..apparently they had a full one snuck in and it exploded.

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

That's wild, and sad that someone sent a pressurized tank to the yard!

[@brucecalhoun1716]

Thanks David!

[@benjaminking1250]

Thank you! Good man

[@JohnSmith-bq1sj]

I wonder if 410A has the same kind of valve.. Those tanks are heavier/stronger.

[@slicktmi]

I just did one same exact valve

[@jakethetool698]

Thanks

[@dirtstroggle5795]

😆nice trick! Thanks !!

[@tuton1691]

That si easy , smart.

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Thanks!

[@leahcim38]

Sometimes I just need a tiny bit of Nitrogen and I use this, lol

[@siamakrasoolian9386]

Hi bro Please tell me about tolerable presure of freon tank(i mean the high pressure the tank can be used)

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Hi Siamak. Thank you for the comment. The manufactures don't publish that information, however we can figure it out. The tank is rated for storing Freon-22 with a maximum storage temperature of 120°F (49°C). Freon-22 has a well known pressure to temperature relationship. The charts are used in refrigeration service all the time. At a liquid temperature of 120°F, the pressure exerted by the Freon-22 will be 260 PSI(G) or 18bar(g). Therefore, we know that this tank was engineered with proper safetey margins to be used at up to 260 PSI in new, unworn condition. Because it's intended to be disposable, and tanks age with time, I would never advocate re-using it at that pressure. I would only use it for low pressure air, maybe 100 PSI for airing tires, or for storing low pressure refrigerants such as R12 or R152A. Also please let me reiterate.... this tank used in the video is rusted beyond what I consider safe, so this particular tank has no pressure capacity. When it was new, it was engineered to store a product which produces up to 260 PSI. As it ages, the strength reduces.

[@ryanpoe3054]

Thx

[@amgari007]

I wonder if I can refill it with liquid for cleaning purposes.

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

I expect you could, but I would be very hesitant to put any water based cleaner in it. The metal isn't engineered for any sort of corrosion resistance and it could rapidly lose its structural integrity. I have seen one of these with a large bore pipe in the bottom, with a ball valve. It was used with a short piece of hose and a drain cleaning "bladder" tool. I would expect that you wouldn't need a lot of pressure for that and it would be an OK use. I tend to worry about corrosion and failure of anything pressurized, so would probably stay with refrigerants or dry gases in these, in my opinion.

[@amgari007]

Thank you. for the reply.@@davida1hiwaaynet

[@hvacworkshop4791]

If you have a welder, just drill a hole, and weld a coupling over the hole.

[@CanizaM]

I wonder how they filled those originally. If there's no spring holding the valve disk closed, would turning it upside-down let it open by gravity?

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

I think they must have a special tool which reaches in via the hose connection, and holds the valve open. You can see the black plastic disc rise up past the port when opening the modified valve. I would assume when the tank is new, they have a fitting with a "probe" of some type, which goes into the port and blocks the valve open while filling. It would have to be inserted while holding the tank upside down, or maybe the probe is in place before the valve goes in for the first time. Once the refrigerant is in the tank, the probe is withdrawn and the valve closed.

[@hvacworkshop4791]

I guess there is a easy way. When they vacuum the tank, the check valve opened. When the vacuum finished, don't close the manual valve, just refill right after vacuum, when the check valve stay in opening position.

[@bayloruniversity5812]

Could I make this and use it as a recovery tank? Any help would be appreciated, thank you

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

The short answer is "yes, but...." You would have to make changes to your recovery machine to bypass the requirement for a tank-full sensor present on a "real" recovery tank. Also you would have to be extremely careful not to fill the tank all the way up with liquid, thereby leaving no room for expansion. You would also need to be sure to recover only refrigerants of equal or lower pressure than what the tank was designed to contain. Having said this, recovery use is one of the main reasons I save them.

[@pyt22fr11]

@@davida1hiwaaynet As far as I am concerned, exact same purpose, i.e., recovery of R134a while performing automotive AC maintenance. I don't want to spoil a nice and expensive "official" recovery cylinder with unkown quality refrigerant fluid, hence the mod that you are describing is great. Thank you very much for the demo, David !

[@pyt22fr11]

To let you know that all of those little cylinders are not always equipped with the same type of check valve. For some of them, I have had no other solution than hammering with a punch this bottom plastic valve inside the cylinder for ever. Not absolutely neat but no alternative, to my knowledge.

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

If there's no alternative and you only draw out vapor, the plastic particles should not be a problem.

[@8307c4]

@@davida1hiwaaynet Right, I would think a tank like that should be good for one vehicle at a time.

[@davidlundy2312]

😂👍

[@horacerumpole6912]

Interesting...

[@medtahan]

what is the safe pressure when using that tank as air tank ?

[@CharlesLease-ei1ee]

If you know nothing about this dunning ask no questions because you should be able to read look at the tank and use a little common sense always said the recovering tanks are a pain in the ass or heavy bulky but these tanks are really easy to carry around why can’t you recover back into them, they’re safe they’re brand new and the reason they do that so the manufacture doesn’t get sued because of some idiot that didn’t know what they were doing. Didn’t have enough common sense to think and figure something out how to reuse them and they blew it up in their face. If you know nothing about this don’t attempted don’t ask dumb questions. Just go get a recovery tank and don’t worry about it.

[@oldcarnocar]

re-use Nice!

[@noanoa4283]

Cool

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Thank you!

[@HDXFH]

Bit rusty lol good mod

[@davida1hiwaaynet]

Thanks! Yep this tank was just a bit too rusty. It was the only one I had which wasn't already modded. Just used for demonstration in the video. I actually got this at an estate sale. Was at least half full of R22. I was afraid of it failing due to the rust, so I recovered all the R22 into a recovery tank, then made this video with the empty tank. I don't use much R22 anymore. My home A/C uses it but it hasn't leaked in years and that is the only system I have which uses it.